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Mitt Romney skips Ames, but aides don't

Three of Romney's paid staffers have done what they can to ensure he gets at least some support at Ames. |
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The event — indoors, with attendees dressed in suits, talking at length about jobs and regulation and trade and how the Obama administration has affected their businesses — was a contrast from those of Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty, who have staked their candidacies on the straw poll. Instead of visiting a dozen towns with field organizers and tents and loud music, Romney arrived with a senior strategist, his national press secretary, his Iowa staffers, his advance team and a handful of top financial and legal advisers.

The thoughtful discussion showed Romney in his element: While he has stumbled in some retail campaign situations, he easily fielded questions from the assembled CEOs and small business owners who asked him about trade deals, banking regulations and how the recession has affected their companies. He was obviously comfortable, giving a detailed answer before pivoting to examples of the Obama administration’s mistakes.

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“The perception, and in my opinion the reality, is that the administration has been an anti-business, anti-job, and anti-investment administration,” he said, and the attendees started nodding. “Every piece of legislation has tended to create more uncertainty and lack of clarity.”

The event didn’t cost a lot of money, and it won’t do anything to drive up expectations for his performance in Ames on Saturday. The lesson Romney’s team learned from 2008, of course, is that winning the straw poll drives expectations that a candidate will win the caucuses — and that makes any eventual loss that much more devastating.

Instead, Romney will speak at a GOP dinner Wednesday night in Des Moines, stop by the Iowa State Fair on Thursday morning and go to the Fox debate Thursday night, then fly out to campaign in New Hampshire. While Randy Travis plays at Michele Bachmann’s tent Saturday, Romney will be holding private events in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who’s set to challenge Romney for the front-runner slot, will be taking a different approach to Saturday. Perry is set to make his intent to run for president clear at a speech in South Carolina on that afternoon before coming to Iowa on Sunday.

Still, Perry’s presence here is already obvious, with “Americans for Rick Perry” showing up at other candidates’ campaign events and driving around Des Moines in a white van plastered with handmade “Perry 2012” signs. And he’s already the subject of the most pointed questions the press had for Romney on Wednesday.

“I’ll get a full view I’m sure of the successes of Gov. Perry,” Romney said when he was asked if Perry’s job creation record was part of his appeal. “He’s a fine man and a fine governor, and the record of Texas, I think, speaks for itself.”

Romney, instead, repeated his intent to participate in the caucuses during his media availability here — and even jumped ahead to the general election.

“I’ll be participating in the Iowa caucus process, hoping to win the delegates that I’d like to have to win the nomination and, of course, if I’m the nominee I’ll be campaigning. Iowa will be a swing state,” he said.

And Romney offered a prediction: President Barack Obama, he said, “won’t carry Iowa in November 2012.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated Romney’s placement in the 2008 Iowa caucuses.

Typical, flip-flop Mitt wants to have it both ways. I'm not competing in IA but my staff is out there working an underground campaing. If I do well, then I claim victory, if I don't do well, then I can easily justify it and say we didn't compete.